Recalled unsafe toys still for sale, US watchdog warns

More than a dozen toys recalled by US authorities for safety reasons may still be for sale as parents head into the holiday shopping season, a consumer group said Tuesday.

In an annual report, the US Public Interest Research Group said it had been able to purchase toys that posed burning, choking and lead-poisoning hazards, even though they had been recalled by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The annual report in recent years has involved product safety testing but this year US PIRG took a different tack.

"This year, we wanted to get the message to parents that there could be toys in your home already that have been recalled," Dev Gowda, a co-author of the "Trouble in Toyland" report, told AFP.

Children's product safety has made strides in recent years but vigilance on the part of consumers, parents and officials is still necessary, the report said.

In 2014, the latest year for which data are available, 11 children died and more than 250,000 required emergency medical treatment for toy-related injuries, according to Gowda.

To produce the report, US PIRG reviewed consumer safety recalls for toys and children's products issued between January 2015 and October 2016 and looked to see whether they are available for sale online.

Toy recalls pose a particular challenge because, unlike auto recalls, toy purchases often do not create a data trail leading to the individual consumer, according to Gowda.

According to the report, US PIRG was able to buy the Aero Spin and Aero Cruz remote-controlled flying toys, more than 300,000 of which were recalled in June because the charging cords could overheat, posing the risk of burns and fire.

Other recalled toys for sale included the Gadget Pencil Case -- branded with Disney and Marvel comics characters and containing magnets that can detach and then cause intestinal injuries if swallowed -- and the Green Tones Monkey Glockenspiel, on which one of the note bars may be covered with lead paint.

In other cases, researchers detected products for sale that appeared to have been the subjects of recalls but for which precise identifying information was unavailable, according to Gowda. More than a dozen recalled toys may thus be on the market.

Parents should be on close watch for self-balancing scooters and hover boards, which were recalled beginning in 2015 due to the risk fire and explosion from overheating lithium ion batteries.

"Parents should look out for hover boards and make sure they have a UL certification on them because that means it's been remedied and fixed," said Gowda.

US PIRG was not able to locate un-remedied hover boards for sale, he added, noting that parents can consult www.toysafetytips.org for more information.